Matthew 21:33 – “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 34 At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35 But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same. 37 “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ 39 So they grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard, and murdered him. 40 “When the owner of the vineyard returns,” Jesus asked, “what do you think he will do to those farmers?”
41 The religious leaders replied, “He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest.” 42 Then Jesus asked them, “Didn’t you ever read this in the Scriptures? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.’
43 I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44 Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.” 45 When the leading priests and Pharisees heard this parable, they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet. (NLT)
As a preacher, I often hear a tongue in cheek remark that I suppose most preachers have heard: “Preacher, I’m sure glad you preached to all those sinners out there!” While I believe this comment is in jest, sometimes this is the attitude that many good religious folk take. In today’s reading, Jesus tells another parable that clearly speaks against the religious folk of his day. What we must realize is that all of Jesus’ parables directed at the religious folk of his day should be cautionary reading for each of us.
Most Christians would say that they have never rejected Jesus. I would say the same thing, but we must be careful in how we live. Do our daily lives reflect our faith? Do our actions and words while stuck in traffic reflect Christ? When a clerk or waiter seems rude to us, do we reflect the love of Christ in return? Do we forgive? Are we quick to judge? Do we easily get angry? No one is perfect, to be sure, but we should not wear our imperfections as a badge and just ignore our behavior. In 2 Peter 3, we are told: “make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight” (2 Peter 3:14).
We are saved through our faith in Jesus, but let us not use that as an excuse not to make every effort to live and act as much as we can as Christ. Today, let us make every effort to produce proper fruit (verse 43), and reflect the stone that the builders rejected (verse 42).
Posted by Ramón Torres
In this world we live in today there is plenty to be angry about, irritated at, offended, etc. But none of those things are Christlike. And we cannot overcome any of those emotions on our own but with the power of the Holy Spirit they can all be overcome. God knows our heart and if we want to be more Christlike, He is there to help us.